| Graphics: |   4.5 |
| SFX: |  4 |
| Music: | 5 |
| Gameplay: | 5 |
| Challenge: | 2 |
| Replay: | 3 |
| Overall: | 4 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Reading ability: | Intermediate |
| Company: | Mitsui Fudosan |
Background:
Perhaps you're wondering, "What's a Snoopy game doing on an import review page?" Yes, that's right, this is a Snoopy import game, released in Japan and was never ported Stateside. The truth is, Snoopy has become nearly as big of a phenomenon as native Hello Kitty in Japan. Snoopy Town stores can be found in Harajuku, Yokohama, Fukuoka, and Osaka, full of Snoopy merchandise one can only find in Japan. So it's really no surprise that a Japanese game developer created a game for an American comic/cartoon. Some Japanese people I've talked with have been surprised to learn that Snoopy is from an American comic. Snoopy is an immediately recognizeable character and very popular among women and girls in Japan, yet most have never seen the Peanuts cartoons. Quite often, they are surprised to be told that Snoopy is actually not the main character of Peanuts, and they are even more surprised to learn that the TV specials and movies can be rather sad, as Charlie Brown is constantly teased and mocked by his peers, and is humiliated by his constant failures.
The Game:
This is an adventure game for a children's audience, and Japanese reading ability is required. You control Woodstock as a basic point-and-click in order to move Snoopy around. Have Woodstock fly over to where you want Snoopy to go, and when you press the B button he chirps at Snoopy in his token way and Snoopy comes. Press the A button and Snoopy runs. Clicking on items will make Snoopy pick them up, and clicking on bus stop signs will let Snoopy ride the bus. I haven't played it all the way through, but it is basic problem solving.
To give you an idea on how the game works, here's a guide to how it plays. Charlie Brown is missing his baseball cap, so Snoopy dresses up like Sherlock and goes investigating ("tantei-gokko" ). (This is just like the '70s Peanuts TV special, "It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown" in which Snoopy goes searching for Woodstock's stolen nest. Snoopy even "smokes" a bubble pipe and blows bubbles from it, just like in the episode. OK, so I love Peanuts!)
Sally leaves her bag at the bus stop, so Snoopy has to go visit her at school to return it. As a thank you, Sally gives Snoopy a movie pass, although she doesn't know if dogs are allowed in the movie theater. On the way out, Snoopy sees Peppermint Patty wearing a frizzy wig. When Snoopy goes to the movie theater, he sees Franklin there and gives his movie pass to him. In return, Franklin gives Snoopy some popcorn. Snoopy goes back to school and gives the popcorn to Patty, who has given up on her silly-looking wig. Snoopy can now exchange the wig for Charlie's baseball hat that some bird has made a nest out of. (Eww... hope he washes it first!) Snoopy then takes the hat back to Charlie, and after that he finds a report. It turns out that Sally forgot her report. So he takes the report to Sally, and Sally gives him a music tape. So Snoopy takes the music tape to the girls at the lake to listen to, and they give him a doll. Snoopy gives the doll to Sally, and Sally gives her old doll to Snoopy. The game goes on like this, so this will give you an idea on how it works.
As you go along, you'll receive phone numbers. These are basically continuation codes. You can use the telephone next to Spike to call the numbers and begin where you left off.
The game can be controlled with a Super Famicom mouse as well as the regular control pad. This makes sense, since this is a point-and-click graphical adventure game. Thus, the gameplay is excellent.
Graphics:
Peanuts fans will no be disappointed! Graphics and animation are superb.
Music/Sound:
The music is FANTASTIC! Vince Guaraldi's famous "Lucy and Linus" track can be heard in abundance, for one thing. This is often referred to the "Peanuts Theme Song," although technically there really wasn't a consistent theme song in all of the TV specials. (Actually, only the Saturday morning cartoon "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show" had a theme song. But, I digress...) The rest of the game's soundtrack is original. Since the Peanuts shows were always full of jazz, this game certainly delivers some great 16-bit jazz music composed by Hirokazu Tanaka and Minako Hamano.
"Hip" Tanaka composed for many of Nintendo's old NES games (Duck Hunt, Metroid, Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario, Famicom Wars and many more). He's a very quirky composer, and also one of the best. You might even notice that this game uses a few of the same samples that EarthBound does - it was one of the only other games he composed for on the SNES. This soundtrack fits right into his style of composing. Minako Hamano was also credited in Super Metroid.
---The above paragraph is courtesy of the youtube user DarkgreenOrange in the description of the Good SNES Music: Snoopy Concert video.
The Good:
Charles Schulz's art style is captured perfectly in this game. The horizon is always framed low, so there's never much depth of field... just like the comics! And the Peanuts theme song plays on the title screen, of course. And since this is Peanuts, there's plenty of jazz music. The sound of Woodstock's chirping and Snoopy's squawking are replicated perfectly in the game.
It's great fun to play a Peanuts video game. I don't know of any other Peanuts-themed games out there. The addition of mouse support enhances gameplay, too.
The Bad:
Nothing is bad about this game. This is Snoopy, darnit!
Overall:
Since this is a kids' game, this game may be a bit dull unless you are a Snoopy fan. Furthermore, this game's audience is rather limited due to the reading ability. I guess if you can't read any Japanese, you must rely on your burning passion for all things Snoopy-related to fumble your way through the game. One might expect the game's text to be written entirel in kana, but as you can see from the screenshots there is some kanji involved. Rest assured, this is a kids' game, so you won't find many complex kanji used. Consequently, this game is great reading comprehension practice for those who are studying Japanese.
This game is great if you're a Snoopy fanatic like myself. I'm a Snoopy zealot... I can't even think of how many pairs of Peanuts boxer shorts I own. If you also want some intermediate Japanese reading practice, this game is perfect. I even found a rare T-shirt for this game to wear with pride. Apparently this shirt was given away to customers who preordered this game. And I own one. Isn't that great?
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